Gharqad

The gharqad (غرقد) tree is mentioned in several hadiths that describe Islamic eschatology. It is considered likely that the gharqad tree is genus Nitraria or genus Lycium.

An excerpt from a hadith attributed to Abu Huraira (one of Muhammad's companions) is famously quoted in the 1988 founding charter of Hamas, Article 17, stating that every stone and tree—except for the gharqad tree—will speak aloud to reveal if a Jew is taking cover, so that the Muslim army can find and kill the Jew.

Members of the genera Nitraria and Lycium do not have any significance in Judaism.

In Sunni Islam
It is prophesied that shortly before Judgement Day, the evil al-Masih ad-Dajjal will falsely claim to be the Mahdi; his followers will mostly be the Jewish people. The genuine Mahdi will arrive to lead a Muslim army against Dajjal and his followers in an apocalyptic battle known as al-Malhamat al-Kubra, until the Second Coming of Jesus, after which the Dajjal will be killed.

Hadith
In Sunni tradition, Abu Huraira reported that the Islamic prophet Muhammad said:

"The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah!, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" – But the tree Gharqad will not say, for it is the tree of the Jews."

Narrations that explicitly mention the gharqad tree are:


 * (quoted above)
 * Sahih Muslim
 * Sahih Muslim
 * Sunan ibn Majah 36:152

Narrations that do not mention the gharqad tree, only mentioning talking rocks or trees are:


 * Sahih Al-Bukhari
 * Sahih Muslim
 * Sahih Muslim
 * Sahih Muslim
 * Sahih Muslim

There is a similar version allegedly narrated by Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (one of the Sahabah, a companion of the Prophet) mentioned in Aqeedah of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jama'ah Hadith 21: "They (the Muslims) will break the Cross, slaughter the swine and abolish Jizya".

Interpretation
Within Sunni Islam, these narrations are understood as part of Sunni eschatology's description of a great war at the end times against the forces of Dajjal which should occur after the second coming Jesus according to Islam. Then, according to this eschatology, Jesus will lead an army of Muslims, some of whom are righteous Christians and righteous Jews converting to Islam in the eve of the battle, to fight the army of Dajjal consisting of Jews believing Dajjal is a god, and if a Jew of Dajjal's army hides behind a stone or a tree, this stone or tree will miraculously talk to Muslims to expose the Jew unless it is a Gharqad tree, because it is "their (the Jews') tree".

Sunni moderate writers debate the subject in eschatological terms, emphasizing that this should happen only in the end times after the second coming of Jesus in accordance with Sunni thought and should not damage current Islamic–Jewish relations.

According to Sunni interpretation in Ashrat al-sa’a (“the signs of the hour”) by Yusuf al-Wabil, the Dajjal’s army will be made up of Jews, Persians, Turks, Bedouins, and women. Traditions from Bukhari’s and Ibn Maja’s hadith collections also include Persians, Turks, and Bedouins as well as Jews.

The general message of the text is often alleged as a prophecy, but it does not appear in the Quran, which Muslims believe is Allah's revelation to Muhammad.

According to Memri TV, Yasir Qadhi described this text as referring to an end times war which is "a fight between good and evil" and that the text is "predictive and not prescriptive".

Other Islamic sects
Not all Muslims accept all hadiths as reliable and may conclude somewhat different eschatology; most Shia Muslims reject Sunni hadiths as unreliable and have their own hadiths such as The Four Books. While according to Karimov, Zaydi Shia may hold Sunni hadiths with high esteem, Zaydis have their own primary hadith traditions. While some Ibadi Muslims do not consider Sunni hadiths as reliable and rely on Tartib al-Musnad, Hoffman noted that contemporary Ibadis often approve of the standard Sunni collections.

Dajani Daoudi concluded that by comprehensive review of the Quran, no such hadith would exist since it openly contradicts Islamic faith and that Muslims believe a hadith is the word of man while the Quran is the word of God. Daoudi added that "this hadith" (that which he quoted) was collected 150 years after the death of Muhammad, that the authenticity of such a hadith is disputed, and that this particular hadith has become controversial for promoting anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims.

Insignificance of the tree in Judaism
Neither Nitraria nor Lycium have any sanctity in Judaism; they are not one of the four species of Sukkot, they are not one of the Seven Species of the Land of Israel and they are not one of the incense plants of the Torah; they are also not used for Havdalah and there is no Jewish tradition of eating their fruits in Tu BiShvat.

Fundamentalism around the concept
Freyer Stowasser describes 19th and early 20th century views about apocalyptic hadiths of the sort introduced by Muhammad Abduh and the young, pre-Salafiist Rashid Rida:

"The narratives on the Dajjal's end time reign and ultimate defeat were unreliable because of: questionable origin and transmitters, weak chains of hadith authentication, internal contradictions on this topic within the hadith corpus as a whole (that invalidate all of its parts), and the fact that these narratives contradict the Qur'anic text."

These modernist, deconstructionist approaches were unacceptable to Sunni clerical traditionalists. They have remained loyal to the more "literalist and inherited form" of apocalyptic hadiths, although they tend not to interpret them as calling for revolutionary political movements.

Use in anti-semitic incitement
The Gharqad narrative is often quoted to disparage and invoke blood libels, e.g. all Jews anywhere, anytime are "killers of prophets", "greedy", "arrogant", "enemies of god", and "enemies of humanity before they are enemies of Muslims", causing incitement against Jews. In fact, people of Jewish ancestry have free will to choose not to self-define themselves as "enemies" of anything. Also, there are different and often conflicting Israelite and Jewish perspectives (Rabbinic Jews, Karaites, Reform Jews, non-believers, and others) on religious issues, peaceful interpretations of scripture, and tolerance. Few or none are considered in cases of incitement caused by extremist radicals, most often fueled by political conflicts.

Conspiracy and the Grand Mufti
Some Sunni Islamists who strongly advocate for the destruction of Israel have propagated a false allegation that Israeli Jews are planting millions of gharqad trees throughout Israel in preparation for a dire war. In 2012, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, appointed by the secular Palestinian Authority (in contrast to Hamas), proclaimed: "“Palestine in its entirety is a revolution... The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. The stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’ Except for the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent].” “Therefore, it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees] surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies.”" This is entirely false as forests planted by Israeli authorities are typically pine and cypress, with around 240 million such trees planted. Olive trees are planted to a lesser extent, but none of the Lycium or Nitraria are actively cultivated. Even in Israeli nurseries, no one seems to know the ‘tree of the Jew.’